When do you feel most alive and free? The moments when my spirit soars often come to me when I can move and
flow with my inner rhythm. Letting my body take over, I feel strong, bright energy deep inside flowing through my body and out through my limbs. I feel at one with my surroundings as all boundaries lose their meaning.
Harvesting the natural flow of life energy within and around you is the trick to making your inner and outer worlds match. Expressing it in your life brings the joy of creation and of escaping from a confining mold. Ultimately, you want this energy to be behind every action you take. Until you’ve mastered that, however, you can practice many techniques for releasing and circulating energy that will give you experiences you can apply to your life. Practices such as
yoga,
Tai Chi, and
Qigong are obvious choices. However, the arts have long been used to get in touch with and express the deepest and most inspired parts of yourself.
Artistic pursuits such as singing, dancing, drawing, and painting, while also requiring precise techniques, tap into brain processes that are not linear or analytical. Rather than boxing everything into different classifications, they make connections between different modalities and experiences. The arts provide an opportunity for you to break out of your usual perceptions.
Learning an art form also takes practice. As with yoga, qigong, and other forms of meditation, the repetition of practice and the endurance required helps to quiet the monkey mind and push you beyond your limits. Moving out of your usual mental and physical zone, you go past mere mastery of technique. That’s when your deeper self comes out and your artwork is filled with ”soul.”
My soul is expressed whenever I
pick up a brush, dip it in ink, and let it glide across paper. With my back and brush held straight, I relax into the flow of energy. The brush moves on its own, creating shapes and meanings I become aware of simultaneously. The wisdom and energy of life reveals itself freely moment by moment and is communicated in each brushstroke.
This is how I practice the
traditional East Asian art of brush calligraphy. Like writing and speaking, calligraphy is a way I communicate my message, reminding people of the life force within them, an everlasting “sun” that shines brightly. It was not something I was taught. Instead I trusted myself and believed in whatever I expressed.
What are you willing to express in your life? Reconnect with the life force within you that comes from the
source of all life. Set your inner self free and let out what you have inside. The love, acceptance, and trust it takes to take down your walls and move with the flow of energy will allow you to be fully alive and will invite abundance to you. You will truly be a creator.
Please join me here over the next three weeks as I share some of my calligraphy work and the messages they express.